Anne Trujillo: My favorite Avalanche moment and what hockey in Denver has meant to my family | Your Opinion

Denver7 Anchor Anne Trujillo has been an Avalanche season ticket holder since the franchise’s first year in Denver in 1995.

She’s in Tampa for Stanley Cup Final games 3 and 4 coverage, and sat down before heading to Florida to talk about her favorite Avalanche moment and how hockey has become a mainstay for her family and others in Denver over the past 27 years.

Read the full interview below and watch in the video players. Game 3 and 4 coverage starts on Denver7 at 5 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, with postgame coverage to follow.

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Denver7 360 | Your Opinion
All right, Anne. First thing's first, what is your favorite Avalanche moment?

Anne Trujillo
By far my favorite avalanche moment was the fight between Patrick Roy and Chris Osgood. And it was in Detroit, and you never see goalies go after one another. That was the fight and ask any Avalanche fan and they remember it well.

Denver7 360 | Your Opinion
So, you've been a season ticket holder since the very beginning. What has it meant to you over the years to see the success of the Avalanche after that first year? And then now coming full circle here in 2022?

Anne Trujillo
Yeah, we were actually Avalanche -- well, I'm gonna backtrack. We were actually season ticket holders when the Colorado Grizzlies were here. And then the Avs came. And so we just rolled right into the Avalanche because we were just hockey fans, period.

So yeah, since 1995, we've sat in the same seats game after game. There have been some pretty lean years where there were times we couldn't give away tickets to an Avalanche game. But you know, me, my husband, my son and my daughter, we love hockey, we always have. And, you know, it's just that dedication. And I think there's so much about that team, year after year that you just love the skill. You just love the ambiance.

We have lifelong friends because of going and sitting in those same seats and seeing people next to us and we've seen their kids grow up. And it's just, it's really kind of a family. And then to be able to, to be able to share and enjoy great moments like the playoffs, and winning, and then getting to the Stanley Cup, that's, it's just the best. It's just, it's just fun. And it really is good, clean, fun.

There's nothing like sitting at a hockey game. And knowing that you can't take your eyes off the eyes because there's always something to watch. The speed is incredible. The talent is incredible. And to be able to see somebody do what they do on ice, holding a stick on those little tiny blades — they're amazing athletes. They're just, they're just miraculous and just fun to watch.

Denver7 360 | Your Opinion
And, you know, seeing the Avs come here in the mid 90s. And being a hockey family yourself, how have you seen the city change in terms of being a hockey town and supporting the Avalanche over the years?

Anne Trujillo
Yeah, I think Colorado is Hockey Town. And I know a lot of people have said this, sorry Detroit, but this is it now. I mean, we have DU. They're amazing. They're such a great team and they won the NCAA championships this year. We have the Avalanche and going for a third Stanley Cup. I mean, hockey is real here.

And my son, he started playing hockey when he was five, and he was on a national championship team for the Littleton Peewee Hawks. So people love hockey here. And I love that people get on the bandwagon as well.

When our teams are winning here in Colorado — I don't care if it's the Broncos or the Rockies or the Nuggets, whoever it is, the Mammoth — people get on board and I love that about Colorado fans. I mean, people just get excited when we have a winning team.

Denver7 360 | Your Opinion
All right, favorite Avs player ever and current favorite Avs player?

Anne Trujillo
Oh man. Okay, I wear the Landy jersey pretty regularly. And he's just, he's just such a great leader. And you can see it on the ice. You can see him when someone comes off a shift and he will talk to them and he will, he will point out some things to him. So I gotta go with Landy.

All time, I ... that's a tough one. Because Joe Sakic, I mean, he was such a great player. And he was such a, such a calm, quiet leader. And obviously, he's doing great things behind the scenes as well. And he's made some great trades and he just is always there and has such a pulse on the game, that, man that's a tough one, to say who's my all-time favorite, but those two are pretty, pretty amazing.

Denver7 360 | Your Opinion
And, you know, having to sit behind the desk and do the news and watch all this unfold. And you know, what is it? How have you felt this particular year in this particular playoffs about this team?

Anne Trujillo
I have been so anxious. You know, I was sitting at the game the other night and my leg was shaking like this the whole time because I was feeling I'm sure what everybody else was feeling. You just get so excited because it's a fast-moving game. There's so much to watch. And, you know, when we were in the third period the other night and it was 3-3, anything can happen. And that's what's great about hockey. Anything can happen at any given moment. You just never know, and it's just just exhilarating.

Denver7 360 | Your Opinion
How are we feeling for the rest of the series?

Anne Trujillo
How am I feeling about the rest of this series? You know, I gotta go with my team. You know, you win Game 1, I think that's a great sign. We're on the right track. So three games to go. We can do it.

Denver7 360 | Your Opinion
All right, you're headed to Tampa. Final question. What do you think? How do you How are you going to feel about being in Tampa and anchoring and seeing potentially the Avs clinch there?

Anne Trujillo
You know, I will take a win any place anytime, even if it's in hot, humid Tampa. Let's go Avs.

Denver7 360 | Your Opinion
All right. Anything else? I think I mean, if there's anything I don't know how many arenas you've watched hockey or the Avs. I think, you know,what is it about the Avs or about Ball Arena or the Pepsi Center that is that makes it special? I guess like if somebody hasn't been to Avs game at Ball Arena, I guess in only so many words what makes it a special experience?

Anne Trujillo
I have had the good fortune of being able to afford season tickets for all of these years and, and it really is a special experience because there is a camaraderie in there. People get so excited. You know, we just there you get to know — I know the ushers by first name. You know, you just you just create this family setting that — it's just fun. It's people are happy. And it's just a great break from news, from real life sometimes. There's just something really special about being inside Ball Arena where, you know, you can cheer and just cheer together and just be together and just have fun and just see a great sport on ice.

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